18 agosto 2008

Pursuant to the Court of Justice (C-408/01) “where, according to a finding of fact by the national court, the relevant section of the public views the sign purely as an embellishment, it necessarily does not establish any link with a registered mark, with the result that one of the conditions of the protection conferred by Article 5(2) of Directive 89/104 is then not satisfied”.

Court of Milano made a plain application of this statement in the case ADIDAS vs. F2MConfezioni which was trading under the trademark William Wilson the sport shoe here shown.

The Court marked the difference between the ADIDAS‘ stripes and those of the defendant (assisted by Avv.Giovanni Casucci), save for the oblique position. The stripes produced, according to the Italian judge, an independent visual graphic representation which was perceived by consumer, through an overall impression where the mark Williams exercised some role, as a decoration, and not a band of origin of the product.